Chapter 10

The Youngest Is Better Than Dad (2)

“……I’m home.”

It was Seonhye, the second daughter. Her voice was filled with exhaustion.

Instead of me, who was cooking in the kitchen, the youngest went out to welcome Seonhye.

“You worked hard, sister.”

“What a surprise. Our youngest actually came out to greet me. Whenever I came home before, you always stayed locked in your room playing games.”

“Because Dad is here today.”

It was a very honest answer.

At the youngest’s words that there was no warm welcome when Dad wasn’t around, Seonhye gave a small laugh.

“Dad. You really need to move in quickly, you know?”

“I think I should.”

After learning about the youngest’s daily routine, I naturally became convinced that I needed to move into this house as soon as possible.

Especially because the state of her room was such a mess.

‘Now I understand why Jinhye and Seonhye keep nagging the youngest.’

Even if she had won first prize in the lottery once, that didn’t mean her life was over.

She still had a long life ahead of her, much longer than mine.

I wanted her to experience and learn more things.

Only after the second daughter changed her clothes and completely removed her makeup did our family finally gather around the same table after such a long time.

Spicy braised chicken, stir-fried anchovies, braised lotus root, fried eggs, spicy pork, and more.

There was a feast of all kinds of side dishes.

Seonhye looked surprised at the huge meal in front of her.

“I can’t believe we can eat a proper home-cooked meal like this at our house…… Oh, right! Wait a second. Everyone, put your chopsticks down.”

Before eating, the second daughter took out her smartphone.

Then—

Click!

She took a picture.

“I normally really don’t take pictures of food, but I felt like I had to take one of this. Dad, is it okay if I upload it to Outstagram later?”

“Outstagram? What’s that?”

“It’s social media. Dad, you don’t know?”

I had vaguely heard of social media before.

But since I didn’t use things like that at all, I didn’t really know what Outstagram was.

The second daughter was about to move to the seat next to me to explain it to me.

But the eldest daughter stopped her.

“I’ll explain that later. Let’s eat first. Dad said he’s going back down to Cheongju the day after tomorrow anyway.”

“Oh, really?”

There would be plenty of time to explain it.

Perhaps realizing that there was no need to rush, the second daughter quietly returned to her seat.

“Dad, if you’re going back to Cheongju the day after tomorrow, what are you going to do tomorrow?”

“I don’t know. Since I’m in Seoul after such a long time, I was thinking about looking around Seoul.”

“By yourself?”

“You and Jinhye have to go to work.”

Mihye had to look at the charts when the market opened tomorrow.

At that moment, Mihye said while chewing on the spicy pork she had just put into her mouth.

“I’m going out tomorrow.”

“You’re going out tomorrow?”

Instead of answering, she nodded.

Gulp!

After finally swallowing all the food in her mouth, the youngest told me what she wanted to say.

“I’m going to Yongsan tomorrow. There’s a newly released game console, so I have to go buy it. Since we’re going there anyway, let’s take a drive while looking at the Han River.”

“Do you have a car?”

“No. But Seonhye will lend me one. Right, sister?”

For a moment, the second daughter gave the youngest a sharp look.

But the youngest simply smiled sweetly in return.

She didn’t say anything else.

In the end, the second daughter was the first to surrender.

“Ugh, fine. I understand. I’ll lend it to you. I’ll lend it to you.”

The second daughter briefly left the table.

When she came back from her room, she had the car keys.

But there wasn’t just one.

There was a whole bunch of them.

“One, two, three, four, five…… You have five cars?”

“These are the ones I have left after my sister nagged me so much that I got rid of several.”

I learned later that Seonhye was actually quite interested in cars.

Whenever she found a car she liked, the second daughter would simply buy it.

Eventually, Jinhye couldn’t stand it anymore and got rid of all but five of them.

“They were my precious cars……”

Seonhye seemed to still be disappointed, as her voice trailed off.

But Jinhye remained firm.

“You don’t even drive them. Why keep them? It’s just wasting money.”

“I earn that much money anyway.”

“Still, no.”

That was a moment when I could really feel the authority of the eldest daughter.

Seonhye and Mihye had been afraid of their older sister since they were young.

Of course, they had become much closer to each other now.

‘Back then, they used to avoid her because they said their sister was scary.’

By now, both the second and youngest daughters must have understood that Jinhye had not been strict with them because she disliked them.

Now that they were all adults, things were different.

Meanwhile.

Mihye, who had been carefully looking at the five car keys, picked up one that looked as if it had been designed after the exterior of a car.

“I’ll take this one.”

“You have to be careful with that one. It hasn’t been long since I bought it.”

“Don’t worry. I’m ranked 57th in the world in racing games.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

There had been a little trouble, but the youngest had successfully secured a car.

“Dad. We’re leaving early tomorrow, so you need to get ready quickly. Okay?”

“What about your stocks? Tomorrow is a weekday. The market will be open.”

“It’s okay if I don’t do it for one day. Even if I sit there with my butt planted in the chair, there’s no guarantee the market will suddenly get better.”

She was right.

The movement of the market had nothing to do with my personal wishes.

“With the mindset of a surfer waiting for a wave. That’s how you have to approach stocks.”

It was a short lecture from the youngest during our break.

I knew that too.

I knew it……

‘Then why have I only lost money, unlike the youngest?’

My pride as a father was really suffering.

I went down to the third basement floor and witnessed a very rare sight.

Yellow, red, blue, purple, and even orange.

Sports cars in all kinds of bright colors were lined up neatly.

The youngest walked toward the yellow car among them.

It was my first time ever riding in a car whose doors opened upward.

“Dad, get in.”

“Are the cars next to this one Seonhye’s too?”

“Yes. They are.”

Just as I suspected.

My guess had been right.

“Originally, Seonhye’s goal was to line them up in the colors of the rainbow, but our eldest sister told her not to, so she failed.”

Whatever else was true, I wanted to take Jinhye’s side on this one.

“Did Seonhye used to like cars?”

As far as I remembered, she didn’t.

If anything, she had probably never been interested in them.

“I heard someone came to a drama shoot in a sports car like that. She became completely obsessed with cars after that, and now collecting cars has become her hobby.”

So there had been a reason.

Mihye put on her sunglasses and started the car.

Vroooom—!

The violent vibration and powerful exhaust sound that felt like it could blow everything away hit me strongly.

“Dad, why don’t you buy a car like this too? I heard Jinhye gave you money.”

“Ah, that? My daughter gave it to me, but I felt it would be a waste to just spend it. And I think driving a car like this at my age would feel a little strange.”

The attention of other people.

That was what bothered me.

But the youngest thought differently.

“There’s no reason to worry about that. Don’t care about what other people think. Just live however Dad wants to live. You have us, don’t you? From now on, live comfortably without worrying about anything, and enjoy all the things you couldn’t enjoy before.”

Both the eldest and second daughters had said similar things to me before.

Until they became adults, Dad had protected them.

But now, they said they would protect Dad.

I was truly grateful for the things my daughters said.

The youngest took hold of the steering wheel.

“Then, I’ll get going.”

She stepped on the accelerator stylishly.

But—

“Huh?”

The car didn’t move.

“Why isn’t it moving?”

Perhaps she was flustered, because the youngest began checking the steering wheel again.

No way.

Did she not know?

“It’s in Park right now.”

“Ah, ahh! Right! I knew that! I just forgot for a moment. Just for a very, very short moment.”

“Mihye. I’m asking just in case.”

There was something I absolutely had to check before we went any further.

“You said you have a driver’s license, right?”

“Of course!”

“When did you get it?”

The answer the youngest gave me was this.

“Last week.”

“…….”

I could have sworn my daughters had said they would protect me.

But it hadn’t even been long, and I was already feeling my life was in danger.

From Gangnam to Yongsan, and then back to Gangnam.

We hadn’t really gone back and forth all over the place.

But—

‘Somehow…… I’m tired.’

I felt especially exhausted today.

Unlike me, the youngest returned home with me looking very satisfied, probably because she had accomplished her goal of buying the new game console.

“You worked hard driving, Dad.”

Mihye had driven when we went to Yongsan.

But I was so nervous that I couldn’t just leave the driving to her.

So I decided to take the steering wheel when we returned home.

Because of that, I was mentally and physically exhausted.

Still, seeing the youngest so happy made me feel satisfied.

‘I can’t just keep sitting around like this.’

It was almost time for the daughters to come home.

‘Should I start preparing dinner?’

It would be the last dinner I prepared for them before going back down to Cheongju tomorrow.

Today, I planned to put even more effort into preparing the meal.

The past two days I had spent with my daughters after such a long time had passed quickly.

Before going into my room, I decided to say good night to Jinhye, Seonhye, and Mihye one by one.

Seonhye, who had to leave early in the morning for a shoot tomorrow, had already gone to sleep.

The youngest was still wide awake, saying, “The night is just beginning.”

The eldest daughter, who had finished getting ready for bed around the same time as me, said this before turning off the light.

“I’ll have a car waiting for you tomorrow at the time you leave, Dad. You can take that.”

“Not another limousine, right?”

“No. You seem uncomfortable with that, so I prepared a different car.”

That was a relief.

A limousine was nice, but I still wasn’t used to such luxury.

“Good night, Dad. And be careful on your way down tomorrow.”

“Okay. You work hard too.”

“You won’t have nightmares tonight, right?”

I could only answer her like this.

“I hope so too.”

After sharing a light hug with my eldest daughter, I returned to my room and lay down.

The ceiling was still unfamiliar to me.

But.

Perhaps because my daughters were all in the same house, this place felt even warmer and more comfortable than my home in Cheongju.

A strong pain came rushing into my shoulder.

Before the burning remains of the building could fall on Jinhye and Seonhye, I instinctively threw myself forward.

Thanks to that, I was able to protect the two girls.

But—

‘My shoulder…… I think it’s completely messed up.’

The pain was so severe that I almost wanted to pass out.

Still, I couldn’t collapse here.

For the sake of the children looking up at me with worried eyes.

I had to stand up again.

And then……

I forced a smile.

“Don’t worry. This uncle is fine…… Come on, let’s go again.”

After reassuring the children, I started walking toward the outside again.

I carried the youngest child in one arm.

Forcing strength into my heavy legs, I kept moving forward.

Forward, forward.

Finally, the exit began to come into view.

‘We’re almost there. Just a little more!’

The light of hope was beginning to appear.

I sent Jinhye and Seonhye outside first.

Then I also escaped the building.

As soon as they saw me, my fellow firefighters quickly rushed toward me.

“Gichan!”

“A-Are you okay?! Where are you hurt?!”

“What happened to your shoulder?!”

Voices came from all around me.

But I paid no attention to them and handed Mihye over to them first.

“Please…… take care of this child first.”

After saying those words—

Thud!

I lost consciousness.